


Here Be Dragons

by aban_ataashi



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Gen, Helena Hawke, very short character piece
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 11:09:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11401290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aban_ataashi/pseuds/aban_ataashi
Summary: Hawke always knew she was a dragon.





	Here Be Dragons

Hawke always knew she was a dragon.

As a child, she sat with her brother and sister at her mother’s feet and listened to stories of faraway places, ancient magic, and epic battles. The stories were as fantastic as they were brutal, and the children made a game of reenacting their favorites.

“I’ll be the knight,” her brother said, holding aloft a wooden sword.

“I’ll be the princess,” her sister said, brushing back her long dark hair.

“And I am the dragon,” Hawke said, spreading her arms like wings and baring her teeth.

She didn’t fully understand the panic in her mother’s eyes when flames began to jump from her fingertips. This was what dragons did.

 

When the Blight came and went, it took with it knights and princesses and mothers who told bedtime stories. All that remained was an angry boy, a sister’s ghost, and a woman who would never be the same.

And, of course, the dragon.

Hawke cut her way through the world with every bit of dragonish ferocity she could muster. She learned to use her claws and her teeth and her fire. She learned to hoard gold. She learned to let her scales grow thick and strong so that no weapons, no words could harm her.

She understood now the fear that followed her, and she did not regret it. She was protecting what was hers. This was what dragons did.

 

The people of Kirkwall were not blind to the dragon in their midst, although they did not address her as such. They preferred words like _killer, criminal, Fereldan dog, apostate._

_Champion._

The titles did not mean much to Hawke. She was the same, regardless of what they called her. What mattered was that she had lost so much, and all she had left was the family and the home she had found, against all odds, in this city. What mattered was that the world now knew attacking Kirkwall would also mean attacking the dragon that lived there.

There was a golden prince who looked at her and called her things like _beautiful_ and _beloved._ These were the titles she knew she held no claim to, but in spite of herself she liked the way they sounded on his lips. She tried to warn him, she really did. She would hurt him eventually. This was what dragons did.

 

It was something of a surprise that when fire and smoke rained down upon the city, it was not the dragon who was responsible.

Hawke did not have time to argue right and wrong. She had to fight, for herself and for her family and for those that could not fight for themselves. When they came for her people she showed them what it meant to attack that which was protected by a dragon.

Saving some meant losing others. Her golden prince left, his words of beauty turned bitter with the ashes of the city, and hadn’t she warned him?

She left as well, when it was over. She left the city she had come to love. She told herself she would be back one day. She would return to the fight. This was what dragons did.

 

It has been said that dragons do not feel fear.

Hawke stood before the Nightmare, and if she was afraid she did not show it. The Inquisitor would escape. Varric would escape. She might even escape, someday. Not now. Now, she stared down the demon in front of her and reached for the fire inside.

She did not flee. She did not cower. She fought, and knew that if she fell, she would fly. This was what dragons did.

And Hawke had always known she was a dragon.

**Author's Note:**

> During my most recent DA2 replay this sort of popped into my head and wouldn't go away, so... here it is! It's a bit different from what I normally do, but I thought I'd try it out. Thanks for reading!


End file.
